1.   An intense debate has emerged as to whether cigarette producers use ammonia-containing compounds to manipulate levels of nicotine, the addictive component of cigarettes.

2.   A spokesman for Philip Morris, which has denied that it manipulated nicotine levels, had no comment on the document.

3.   But cigarette companies have repeatedly denied that they misled the federal government about their knowledge of the health hazards of smoking or that they manipulated nicotine levels.

4.   Company officials have acknowledged that researchers did study the addictive properties of nicotine and how to manipulate the levels of nicotine in cigarettes.

5.   Former Food and Drug Administration chief David A. Kessler predicts that the unveiling of more company documents will show cigarette companies manipulating nicotine levels to hook smokers.

6.   In both public statements and court filings, the tobacco companies have denied both that cigarettes are addictive and that they have manipulated nicotine levels.

7.   In particular, the company challenged an ABC claim that cigarette makers manipulated nicotine levels by adding the substance to the product.

8.   In public statements, executives of Philip Morris and other tobacco companies have denied that they manipulate nicotine levels.

9.   Investigators had plowed through corporate documents for evidence that cigarette makers manipulated the level of nicotine in their product.

10.   It charges that they concealed knowledge that nicotine is addictive, and that they manipulated the levels of nicotine in cigarettes to keep customers addicted.